I had two external drives failing in the same way. One was a WD, the other was a Lacie. Both network access drives.

They both stopped showing the disk in explorer, but I could retrieve the hard drive and plug them into my computer. With UFS explorer, I copied all the wanted files from the hard drive, with no errors. Then formated the hard drive (the one inside the Lacie box). The WD was more recently and at work, I still have it plugged inside my computer if anyone needs anything from there (which I doubt, since I copied most important stuff already).

The Lacie box actually had a WD hard drive inside, which I still use today as a regular internal HDD.

Now, if they actually show in explorer but you have errors, then maybe it is actually the hard drive failing.

My advice: uninstall CCleaner, copy over the files you need, if you can, and format the drive. If the issues persist, like slow access, error copying files over, do one last thing before you trash it: plug it into a diferent sata port. If it doesn’t read well, forget the disk.

I always use Saal Digital. I have used ZNO too. Both have a great quality at average costs. They are not too expensive and they are always giving away discount codes, and in the end, it makes your order have a very nice cost-quality ratio.

When I started to post photos of models and landscapes, I used my own profile in Facebook. I just used dedicated albums for each subject.

But I early noticed it wasn’t very good in the end, for the client side (as if I had a client side back then).

So I knew about Facebook pages and created one. Now, I only post “work” in my page, nothing really personal. Maybe a few selfies here and there, when someone catches me shooting or so.

I prefer to split it up and have the possibility to share links and photos between my page and my personal profile when I want to.

I use several drive services like Google Drive, One Drive, and even Dropbox if needed.

Now, I do share the folders to whoever has the link, they are not exactly public, but depending on the context and client / final user, they can share among themselves. Imagine a wedding where I send the photos to the bride and groom. They are free to share that link with the guests if they want. I have the photos for sale in my website anyway (print sales, not digital downloads or whatever).

This is more than enough and everyone can open and download the photos with quality and not worrying about spamming or sharing your email.

For domestic prints, don’t worry about color profiles or setting any other micro-detail. Just crop the photo to the same aspect ratio. Do not bother calculating the print size vs pixel size. Use all the resolution your photo has, and the RIP and print process will do the rest for you.

For a good quality print, use photo paper, gloss or mate, but the specific settings will depend on the printer itself and from which software you are printing too.

I work in the printing business for large format vinyl, paper and mesh prints. I rarely worry about a photo color profile. Even with a big printer and RIP software, the images are printed with great colors.

And this reminds me, set your monitor colors to neutral. Do not use “warm” or “cold” color schemes in the monitor menu. Use your operating system color calibration utility and you"re set.

I charge 100 eur for the booking, and the remaining they can pay in several parcels or all at once at the end of the day, whatever.

Most annoying that happened, I talked to the bride and groom, they were about to book their day with me, and we talked about a second meeting where I would take my digital albums so they can take a look and choose one of their liking. They told me someone has offered them the photography service. I hadn’t booked the day yet, but is still annoying.

Another time, I was asked by a model I know to shoot her wedding as 2nd shooter. The pay would be a dinner. Yes, she wanted to pay my *secondary* work with a meal.

Well, I am sure the main photographer did charge her wedding, but the nerve to ask me to shoot the wedding and get paid with food was outrageus. I told her a round “no, thank you, I can’t” even tough she reminded me of the several shoots we had (not many, I think two, and she was always bailing out of her pregnant shoot I was willing to do her for free).

It actually depends on the scenario and lighting position. And personal taste.

If you like and have the chance to shoot with some light, and if they wear white umbrellas, you can get a nice luminous image. A bit of glow, but thats part of the magic in the scene.

If they have black umbrellas, they can contrast better with the sky; unless the sky is dark too.

There’s a few variables here, and some you can’t control like the weather specifics.

Both have the ability to provide great photos in the end.

Block them in your social media.

Ask them for that point in the contract, if any.

If they don’t change, you must take the leap and stop living sad. Search for other job, where you can freely do what you want to do. Gather a few bucks in that job while you search, but think outside the box… Nobody can stop you from posting on YOUR pages, YOUR personal work and free time photos, YOUR style. If you let them do it, you are already bending to their will, and now it may be harsh to turn it around.

Just be clear with them, or follow up the suggestions here. Shoot anything they will surely dislike and post. Make them taste their own rules…

I am not changing my way of working due to AI. I know it can remove a watermark, but that is a lame excuse. Anyone with a minimum of editing experience can remove a watermark.

I do watermark my images for the visual identity, not so much for protection. For paid jobs like weddings and aniversaries, I deliver the photos without watermark, but I do use it when I post them in my social media and website.

The internet is an ocean of content and I’m just a small grain of sand in the middle of it. If by any chance, one of my images end up being used without my permission, I will take action depending on the context. For now, I am not worried, because my photography is not so fantastic to the point someone is interested in stealing it anyway…

As for the issue of watermarks for proofing, I provide images in my website for people to buy their prints, not the actual digital photos. If a wedding guest wants a digital photo, they can simply ask the bride and groom for it, since they get all the digital photos. I charge for the prints, not the digital photos, so again, I’m not worried about AI on this regard.

That concept is not photography-friendly. I once shot a wedding during the day, and I was planning to do the group shots right after the cerimony with plenty of light and everyone was roaming the place for snacks and talking. It was the best time of the day for that. The mood was nice, the weather was great, but then… The bride and groom, specially the groom, a close friend of mine from high school, told me “we’re running late, lets go inside for lunch and we do the group shots later”.

He always told me from the start that those “standard” photos were not their priority, they prefer casual, candic photos. I’m fine with that, but I told him to remember the 100s of guests they were having, and people ALWAYS loved to have group photos. If not for themselves, for the guests. The old people, grannys, uncles, aunts, and so on. They ALWAYS want the traditional group photo with the bride and groom. As for the rest of the photos I was more than happy to shoot as they wanted. In fact, they loved how the photos came out in the end.

But we had that issue of the group photos. They posponed them for later, but “after lunch” was actually AT NIGHT! So I got a hundred guests wanting to take photos with the bride and groom.

I had my flash with me and I used a fixed lamp near a wall of stone. Was a nice scenario, but I felt the light was faulty. I managed to carry out the group photos with a mix of luck, skill in the lighting and people position.

Guests knew the groom was the one to blame, so I was not subject to the guest’s pressure for the lack of quality of the group photos. The groom also told the guests that was his fault too so they don’t blame on the photographer…

Anyway, the photos came out relatively nice for the scenario and I even got a bunch of print orders from guests.

Photos at night need a LOT of light. Ideally, without flash so you don’t depend on batteries. Get permanent light, with tripods or lamps, whatever. Just get some light spots to make the scene well lit. Remember: there is no such thing as too much light… (during the night, at least).

Well, there are many things to consider, but I will list a few on example.

First, explore the location. Be it a beach, a garden, an abandoned building, make sure to cover several angles and landscapes to fully max your experience.

Then, as for the model, tell her to makeup and use nice outfits. Many models make the mistake to not bother with makeup or clothes, but those details are not easily fixed in post-production. So tell her to makeup as if she were going out with friends. In a model photoshoot, we want the model to stand-out; her face and expression must have something the others don’t have.

Take a few example shots in your smartphone. Ideas for poses, but don’t try to replicate everything. Just the pose and feeling to get you both inspired, and you do the rest.

Now, about your gear, since you didn’t tell anything about it, I will just type some general tips. Make use of bokeh, if you have lenses for it. Use the maximum aperture available. 1.8? 2.8? But if you happen to have a telezoom lens (200, 300 mm) that could work too, if you shoot her from a distance. Just need to have a steady hand and a LOT of light. Don’t be afraid to shoot her portraits (face only, or waist-up only) with that type of lens. If you don’t have a prime lens with a large aperture, these focal lengths can get you a similar effect.

If your lenses are limited and you only have the stock type 18-55mm, zoom up to 55 and use that for closeups.

Final: shoot RAW, if you don’t do it already. It will allow you to adjust under exposed, and over exposed images with ease.

I keep them all. Every. Single. One. Of them.

I’ve reached my limit for hard drives inside the PC case, but I’m about to buy an external network rack to add more hard drives. And since they are becoming larger, I will not need so many of them in the future (I currently have 1 TB, 2TB, 3TB sata drives and that space alone could be alocated to a single hard drive with today’s market).

So get an USB My Cloud device if you don’t want to bother to open the computer and add an extra hard drive, and when you feel the time is right, get a network rack and build your photography storage device.

I do paid jobs, mostly photo with video too, and the required space can be insane. My camera only has 24MP, and I shoot RAW + JPG. My video camera is not a top notch, 1080i 59fps 8 bit AVCHD, so I’m not the one to require a LOT of new hard drive space per year, but still its an average of 3TB / year I need to fit into my current system. Professional photographers and videographers need way more than this, but general rule of thumb, we save everything. We never know how and when we’re going back to an old shoot and re-edit a photo for some reason.

I often do that. Unfortunately, I rarely get a response, but I understand, tough.

When I am on the lookout for models, I tend to do in the the right groups (photography, modeling, fashion) and in my region to make the shoot easier to schedule.

My general rule of thumb is to charge a certain amount if I am asked to shoot, and to a trade shoot if I invite first. However, if I invite someone for a shoot and that person asks me to travel more than I can apply for a trade shoot, we negotiate a small symbolic price to compensate. Nothing expensive, tough.

Why do experienced photographers sometimes do this random invite? Well, I can tell for myself: we often look for people who we deem they could do well as model, so we like to try and have that experience.

Some photographers have more experience in boudoir, others in beachwear, others in casual / street, and so on. And we usually try to have new additions to our portfolio with themes we may not have so much. Example: I have quite a few boudoir shoots, a LOT of belly dancers shoots, a bunch of casual / street, and a few artistic nude. This last theme is one I would like to grow, but due to its nature, its hard to find models for it (so thats the only theme I have more at fault in my portfolio).

If a photographer invites you to a photoshoot, ask around, try to get in contact with people who worked with him before. Also look around his website or social media. And ask him what you need! Really, ask him what you want. I insist my models ask me stuff so I can clarify them of whatever questions they have. Can they take a friend with them? Always, and I encourage them to. Can they know the place for the photoshoot beforehand? Sure, I never leave my house without knowing first where are we going. How long does the photoshoot takes? Depending on the place, outfit/s, and distance, we can take 2 hours up to 3 or even 4, if they have the time for it. But I usually ask them if they have any time limitations so I better organize the whole shoot, from starting hours, to finish.

You need to make sure your flash unit can keep up with your camera shutter speed.

I’m not sure about the specifics, but I think HSS (High Speed Sync) will allow you to avoid those situations. But your flash needs to support it.

If not, just manually change your shutter speed to what the flash permits.

Trying to remember how it all began, but here goes…

Maybe the little spark that ignited all this was an old Sony DSC P100. At that time, it was neat, nothing fancy. But a friend from university had that camera for a while but as he told me, it started to “be a little smallish”. It was good but not enough. So he was trying to sell it and asked me if I wanted it, for a nice price, 2nd hand, good condition, as a friend, so it was a bargain. Can’t remember how much, it was around 2003 or something.

After the P100, I also had his problem. I started to like photography and got my hands on a new Sony DSC H20. Better, bigger. Still no interchangeable lenses, but I ordered the official ring adapter to use a lens converter on top as well as 58 mm filters.

Meanwhile I went through some finantial issues and had to sell this H20. I think the P100 was also sold with it.

In 2010 I bought the Sony A500, new. Now with this camera, I started to shoot weddings. No joke. I’ve shot a few weddings with this old crop camera. People liked the photos. Period. Moving on to the next. Need to say I also bought a few lenses after this camera: it included the stock 18-55 and I also got the 75-300, then the 50 mm 1.8 prime, all brand new.

Later, I found the cheapest Sigma 10-20 lens for sale. For the minolta mount. My cameras’ mount. I just had to buy it for 150€. It’s in great condition, auto-focus works (not 100%, but still ok).

A few years after, in 2017, I bought the Sony A77II. Yes, you get the point. I love Sonys. This was one of my biggest upgrades, altough it was also crop size, I knew I could use the same batteries and lenses I already had, so it was an excelent deal. I bought the body only at a huge special campaign and I paid around 800€ for it. New.

Recently I have been shooting and working on a bit on video too, so I looked around in the used market for a small camera that allowed me to expand somehow. I came across a used Sony RX100 IV, and this little toy packs a lot of power. Yes, it is not a video camera, but I figured it was a good opportunity to have a nice little camera, since my other 2 cameras are bulky, both with grips. I bought the RX100 with 3 batteries and good it was this way, the lightweight little batteries last almost nothing. And the charger has slot for 1 only. Still, it gives great selfies with the 180º tilting screen, goes by as a “point and shoot” so I don’t get bothered in places where I am not supposed to have a photoshoot or something, and it creates raw files, allows for absolute creative control like the ISO, aperture, shutter speed, you name it. As a true DSLR. Just pocket-size. And it records 4K video. It had a small price tag, but I guess it was due to the unawareness of the previous owner…

After a few years of using, my A77II started to wear off. A LOT. Rubbers falling apart, the lcd screen stopped working, and today it counts around 170.000 clicks. Its my war-camera. So I wanted to treat it nicely with a new lcd. I bought a new one, but it didn’t solve the problem. I bought a new flat cable. Nothing. I was about to buy the motherboard and install it myself, when I see some guy selling an almost new Sony A7. First generation. Cheap due to having a small scratch on the bottom, near the tripod thread, but nothing else that could affect the quality overall. So I bought it and in the following weeks, I got lenses for it, the 28-70 and the 50 mm 1.8. Again, another big upgrade, this time to the full frame thing.

Now back to my main objective of shooting and… and… Guess what I find again in the markeplace? A Sony MC50. It was such a perfect camera for my needs: working 100% without issues, with cables, microphone and cheap. I got another member for my family.

Now I don’t have any more camera or lens to add. I’m done.

Jokes aside, I’m looking for a telephoto lens now for the A7. My problem is their price. Everything I find has an insane price, and I don’t earn enough to buy gear every month. Thats why I bought so much used cameras, altough I prefer to buy them new due to warranty issues.

Other parts I’ve got meanwhile:

An LCD screen to attach to the MC50 when recording. My tripod reaches 2 m in height, so I need an extra screen to double check the footage and make sure everything is in focus.

A 500 mm Vivitar lens with Pentax mount. Lucky I already had a converter because I bought it a few years back when my uncle gave me his old Pentax with 2 lenses.

Trigger / timer and remote for the A7. All in one.

The K&F Tripod.

Also looking for a huge bag I can use to fit a bit of almost everything and have in my car’s trunk. 3 bags / backpacks are starting to get smaller for all this…

Go Photoshop. Paint some clothes on the nude people.

I feel your pain. I’m a photographer and I’m always on the lookout for young models who want to try some photoshoots. I’ve met some interesting models in the past this way, but IG these days is just shit everywhere. Influencers, Digital Content Creators, Instagrammers, for me they can all go into the same trash can. Shitloads of followers only drolling for her bodies, this is actually competing with OnlyFans…

I used to post some photography, and I had some belly dance videography projects with the collaboration of many belly dancers (some international known names), and yet, my Instagram is somewhat dead.

Márcio Silva (@msdesignfoto) • fotos e vídeos do Instagram

For jpgs I usually edit them in Lightroom as the raw files. Except, I apply only a portion of the total effects I usually do if that file was a raw.

The highlights, shadows, blacks, etc., I only nudge them a bit, instead of the usual stronger adjustments.

For the noise, same thing. Or maybe don’t even apply noise reduction at all if it isn’t an issue. Having a small noise can actually help to keep the image original and sharper; too much noise reduction, or noise reduction when its not needed, may have a nasty effect on the photo.

If the color is somewhat right, don’t mess with the white balance or you will have issues achieving the correct color temperature.

If you need a bigger file for printing purposes, you can take your edited photo to AI Image Upscaler | Upscale Image Online Batch Free (imgupscaler.com) and it upscales the image up to 400% the original size. It works better with images with basic colors and shapes; not so much with photos, but you can always try and see how the photo looks with the upscale.